lmsmith Posted March 22, 2009 Report Share Posted March 22, 2009 Do I really need an RO unit? What exactly does it do? My tank is SG 1.018 right now and I'm not using an RO unit atm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted March 22, 2009 Report Share Posted March 22, 2009 Strictly necessary? No...But most things aren't strictly necessary if you go to large lengths to make up for their lack. Unless you have very pure water for topoff you're likely to get significantly more algae. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimsum Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 is that 1.018 reading for a brackish tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsmith Posted March 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 is that 1.018 reading for a brackish tank? Yup. I'm going to be making the leap to marine in a month or so. Maybe no RO water is why my glass gets covered in algae in all of 2 days? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 Are you using a skimmer yet, do you have much live rock? Lack of both of those will cause more algae. Problems with impure top off water is a long term problem rather than a short term since the pollutants build up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsmith Posted March 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 No skimmer yet; I'm waiting for it to arrive. I should have it set up by the end of the week, and the fish will be in a bigger tank too. From the little bit of research I've down on RO units, they seem mega expensive. How much would an average one be? Also, I kind of remember hearing somewhere that an RO unit gets the same things out of the water as a UV thing in the filter; is this true? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 A UV unit produces UV light which acts as a sanitizer and will kill off bacteria and algae in the water column but will not remove the dead matter. An RO unit is a fine membrane that allows water and other similar and smaller sized molecules to pass through but will remove compounds having bigger molecules so it is a type of filter and produces water that is purer than that being treated but not as pure as distilled water. They are not even similar, so do not produce the same sort of water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 Ro/Di filters usually go for round $350-$500. Ideally you want at least a 4 stage unit, this will have a couple of pre filters (Carbon and sediment), then your RO filter which gets the water ~99% pure, and lastly a DI filter which does the last ~1%. Watch out for the retail filter shops, they seem to think they can charge crazy prices, I was quoted between $700 and over $1000, there is a shop in Auckland, Prestons I think (?) or is it PSI filters (?) that supplies a lot of the marine keepers at reasonable prices. They come up second hand sometimea but be aware you are really just buying the housing's because you'll most likely need/want to replace all the filters since you wont know how they have been treated or how much work they have done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsmith Posted March 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 Awesome thanks guys. I'll look into getting one sometime. Sigh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 Until you get your filter, the next best option is pure water from the supermarket (just make sure it's not mineral water), next best after that is rain water, so long as you collect it cleanly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockerpeller Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 keep an eye out for PureDew. It was what I was using for top-up water at 1 stage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsmith Posted March 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 Until you get your filter, the next best option is pure water from the supermarket (just make sure it's not mineral water), next best after that is rain water, so long as you collect it cleanly. I collect rainwater now and use it. Any ideas for cleanly collecting rainwater? I just have a big 50l tub that sits outside away from trees etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 I just have a big 50l tub that sits outside away from trees etc That sound idea, just make sure you don't have anything sitting in the bottom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelenMac Posted May 18, 2009 Report Share Posted May 18, 2009 I used to collect rainwater in a 50 litre plastic bin. Then would pour it thru filter wool into my jug for topping up that catches any gunk thats ended up in the water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skaffen Posted May 19, 2009 Report Share Posted May 19, 2009 Didya see my thread? viewtopic.php?f=3&t=38370 I'm still sorting out the shipping method with Wateranywhere, do you want to halve the shipping and order one, too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsmith Posted May 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2009 I don't have the $ for it right now, but make sure you post whether it's good and replacements etc and I'll look into it. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.